Man United Plan Audacious Swap Deal to Land £30m-Rated Centre Back

Premier League champions Manchester United are hoping to use unwanted midfield player Anderson as a makeweight in a deal to bring coveted FC Porto defender Eliaquim Mangala to Old Trafford when the winter transfer window opens again for business in the new year, according to reports in the Daily Star.

The future of the occasional Brazil international in the north west has come into question of late after a string of lacklustre displays from Anderson at the heart of the Red Devils’ midfield recently, with reports suggesting that new United head coach David Moyes has finally lost patience with the 25-year-old.

As such, it is believed that the Scot has already decided to offload Anderson at the turn of the year, with Portuguese champions Porto said to be interested in bringing the Brazilian back to the Dragao, six years after the player left the club to join the Red Devils for an undisclosed fee.

However, United are now trying to engineer an audacious swap deal involving the Portuguese giants’ in-demand France international and Anderson for January, with Moyes having been following Mangala’s progress at Porto for some time now.

Mangala, 22, has a contract with Porto that currently runs until June 30 2016, with his employers thought to value the central defender somewhere in the region of £30 million.